The Great Ones
by Jurassic Lion
Summary: The Battle of Beacon has taken its toll on Team RWBY and JNPR. Pyrrha Nikos lives but Jaune Arc is dead RWBY is scattered. Now Ruby & Pyrrha must gather together after the fall and go after the enemies in the shadows. Graduation is early, the World of Remnant is theirs to explore. *Pyrrha alive, canon divergence after V3*


Pyrrha was drowning. Drowning. Deeper and deeper into the blackness. Into the abyss. Into nothing.

She still had a sense of who she was. Pyrrha Nikos, huntress in training. Teammate, member of Team JNPR.

But she was in a void of nothing of darkness. She didn't even have a sense of her form at all. But she did feel the agony of being enveloped by the overwhelming force of the void. She couldn't hear, couldn't see, smell, or feel. Was she nothing but her soul now?

Her memory was fading. Faces, experiences, where she was from, where she had been, all she could still see clearly was the face of her mother. Her smile brought her comfort and yet Pyrrha felt dread as even her face was starting to fade away.

Why am I here? Why is this happening?

Pyrrha was fading. Fading away. Soon there would be nothing left. Not even thought at all…

.

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Light took over. Pyrrha could see now the great blue sky above her. She gasped as she felt herself fall downwards and be enveloped by bitterly cold water. Her hearing came back and was overwhelmed by the noise of being underneath water. She blinked and could tell that she was in a dark blue ocean. At least she assumed so. Pyrrha began to feel her arms and her legs which instinctively began to keep her afloat as she moved to try and swim back to the surface. The sunlight was peering through the surface – it was a beacon.

"You're not going to die."

She breached the water and coughed up water. Her lungs screamed for air and Pyrrha obliged with a helpful gasp for it. Blinking away excess water her eyes focused on her surroundings now. She was indeed in the middle of an ocean and there was no sight of land anywhere. But there was something else that was unsettling. There was no signs of other life.

There were no birds in the sky. No howling of wind. No signs of other animals swimming in the water. Not even the smallest of fish passing by that Pyrrha would be able to sense with her aura. There wasn't anything here.

Whose voice was that? Pyrrha heard someone speak. A woman. An older woman by the sound of it. But she couldn't remember who it was. And yet they sounded so familiar to her, as if she did know who they were.

She floated there for a while taking in her surroundings. She had to stay afloat and continued to paddle her arms about. But she had no idea which direction she should go.  
"You are not going to die today Pyrrha Nikos. I will not allow it."

The woman's voice spoke again. Pyrrha turned around wildly trying to find them. But she was sure there wasn't anyone else out here in the waves. Was she just hearing things? She thought it might be that, from whatever trauma she had of being suddenly so remote. But Pyrrha felt as if she actually heard her.

Then she felt it: aura. Another soul. A sign of life. She looked behind her.

A woman with brown hair and brown skin stood on the surface of the water. She was bare of any clothes from head to toe. Pyrrha wasn't quite sure what she was seeing. It wasn't a mirage though because Pyrrha could sense the aura coming off of the woman. She was real.

"Who are you!?" Pyrrha shouted. The sound of her own voice, and so loud at that, for a moment startled Pyrrha. But the woman didn't reply. She merely walked forward, her feet never breaching below the surface. She made it to where she stood in front of Pyrrha and then held out her hand.

"You are not going to die today Pyrrha Nikos. We, are not going to die today."

Pyrrha was cautious. She didn't know this person. But she took her hand and found herself lifted upwards and out of the water. The woman held Pyrrha up and Pyrrha held onto the woman's shoulders. Then she realized that she too was able to stand atop of the surface of the water but Pyrrha didn't let go of the woman.

"Don't be afraid. Below is the world of death. You're not going to go there. I'll make sure of that."

"W-who are you? What are we doing here?" Pyrrha asked. She now looked the woman directly in the eye and was faced to face with her.

Pyrrha saw her reflection in the woman's gold eyes. She then realized from the reflection that she too was void of clothing. Part of her wanted to feel embarrassed but she was too confused at the situation to care about that. The woman merely looked upon Pyrrha. She then pulled the red haired girl into her embrace.

Their auras began to light like fire. Pyrrha no longer felt cold as her being ignited with a bright warmth like the sun. The other aura of the woman felt intense as well. The two were glowing like gold. The woman then whispered into Pyrrha's ear as light began to take over them.

"I am you. You are me. We are two. We are one. Together we are forever-"

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Pyrrha Nikos woke up to the sound of music. Her eye lids slowly opened revealing bright fluorescent lights in the ceiling above her. The room was quite cold and her entire body felt quite chilled. But she was underneath a wool blanket which covered her from her toes to her neck which helped somewhat. What threw her off was the heavy feeling of her body.

Then she felt the pain. Her chest was aching greatly and her right arm felt numb. Her legs felt rather sore and the cold feeling in her toes did nothing to help. She blinked more and her vision cleared to reveal where she was.

It was a white hospital room. It was clean and orderly. But what stood out as Pyrrha's head scanned the room was the machines placed next to her. She realized she was in bed and judging from the wires snaking out of the machine towards the bed, she was likely connected to these machines.

"Pyrrha? Pyrrha are you awake?" a voice to the side caught Pyrrha's attention. She turned her head and saw to her surprise the familiar face of her mother. She looked a lot like Pyrrha with red hair (hers in a bun) and wore glasses. She was her only family in the world.

"Moooom?" Pyrrha spoke weakly. Her chest hurt too much to speak. She winced as she laid her head back down onto the bed. She heard her mother stand up and approach her. Her mother then carefully leaned down to hug Pyrrha and kiss her on her head.

"Oh sweetie, sweetie you're all right! I – we didn't know if you were going to wake up. I didn't believe them but it's been so long sweetie – oh Pyrrha, my only child, Pyrrha!" Her mother began to weep. Pyrrha opened her eyes slowly as she felt her mother cry on her head.

She didn't mind though. She felt at peace with her mother being there. That's all she wanted.

It was a dream. I was in a dream.

Pyrrha then began to recall. Her last memory, the tower of Beacon, Cinder Fall, Ruby…. Jaune.

"Mom…. Mom…." Pyrrha weakly spoke. Her mother stood up wiping her tears. It didn't make Pyrrha feel good to see her mother cry but she knew it was only because her mother loved her dearly.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry honey, I'm just glad you're okay. I'll go let the nurse know you're awake. You must be quite hungry baby." She began to make her way to walk off out the door. Pyrrha spoke again.

"Moooom – ow." Pyrrha raised her voice only to feel more pain in her chest. Why did even simply speaking make everything hurt?

Her mother nearly ran back into the room. She got close to the machines and looked them over before turning to Pyrrha herself. Her mother then lifted the blanket and revealed the horror to Pyrrha.

There was a tube that was bandaged to the right side of her chest that was connected to a machine. Her lower legs were bandaged heavily – her left foot being held in a thick cast. Her right arm was also cast which explained being unable to feel it.

"What… what happened…." Pyrrha spoke in spite of the pain. Her mother looked at Pyrrha directly. Her eyes were full of pain. Pyrrha wished her eyes weren't so sad now.

"You… you were in an accident. At Beacon. The school…" her mother covered Pyrrha again and walked around the bed to take the seat she had been occupying before. Pyrrha merely turned her head to look at her mother as moving her whole body hurt.

Her mother breathed inward as her eyes closed. Then she exhaled.

"Pyrrha, what do you remember?"

"I remember…" her thoughts went back to what she was trying to recollect. Beacon Tower. Ruby at the tower. Her eyes glowing like starlight. Cinder Fall – arrows and fire.  
Jaune.

Her teammate had been there at the tower. He had come back. Even after Pyrrha had sent him away.

"Where is… where is… Jaune…?" Pyrrha spoke slowly. Partly because of the pain of being able to speak. Partly because of the fear. The fear that she already knew the answer.

Her mother couldn't look at her. The green eyes that she got from her mother looked now to the ground. Pyrrha's lips quivered out of her control. Her heart began to grow heavy.

"Pyrrha… you…" Her mother struggled to let out her words. She removed her glasses to wipe away tears. She then looked at Pyrrha. This look Pyrrha remembered quite well. It was the look she had when she learned they would have to leave their home when it would be taken over by bandit tribes. The look she had when Pyrrha had to learn that Redbeard wouldn't be coming home anymore.

The look her mother had when her father perished on a mission slaying Grimm.

"No…" Pyrrha couldn't hold back the choking feeling in her throat.

"I'm sorry Pyrrha. You and Ruby were the only survivors. Your teammate, Jaune is dead."


End file.
